


the road leads back to you

by gurlsrool



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: (for jack/bitty), Coming Out, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Prom, who knows!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-27
Updated: 2016-05-27
Packaged: 2018-06-08 09:51:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6849538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gurlsrool/pseuds/gurlsrool
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“That’s prom, right? You walk in on your friends boning, bone someone yourself, eat some chips.” / The boys find out Bitty didn't get to attend his high school prom so they throw their own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the road leads back to you

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so there are definitely typos in this but I've been writing this since my prom a month ago and wanted to get it out before Natalie's prom (happy prom!!!!!!) so if anything's a little off, I'm sorry! This is dedicated to Savanna, thank you for the prom #experience that inspired this I love you a lot. It's basically 100% fluff but tw for strong language and mentions of sex, alcohol and drug use, and past homophobia. Title from georgia on my mind bc I've been crying abt it a whole lot lately!

At seven a.m, Dex works up enough courage to knock. 

He can hear the soft lull of Bitty's laugh and see the blue light of his iPad shining under the door so he knows it's gotten to that time where Bitty's awake but not awake enough to get out of bed. Between the end of kegsters and the beginning of chocolate chip pancakes, there's always Bitty, rising with the morning sun and holding them all together. Dex isn't sure how the team functioned before him but he's glad he wasn't there for it.

There's Bitty's voice, muffled on the other side of the door, and then he calls out, "I'll get started on the pancakes soon Ransom." 

He swings the door open and sees Bitty, wearing a Falcs hoodie and clutching onto his iPad like it's his lifeline. "Seriously Ransom I’ll- Dex?" He looks between Dex and the iPad, mutters, "I gotta go," and hastily presses a button. There's a moment where Bitty looks red and flustered and caught up in his head but he shakes it off, replaces it with a smile. "Dex! Pancakes are coming up soon, I promise, it's just one of those mornings! Do you want banana? They might not be quite ripe enough but-"

"No," he hovers in the doorway, shuffles between one foot and the other. "No, I don't- I'm not- I just. I couldn't sleep. Last night," he cringes at his own words but Bitty doesn't laugh, just examines him, eyebrows narrowed.

"Come here."

"What?"

"Come on, we can't talk with you all the way over there, get in here," he pushes his comforter aside and pats the space on the bed beside him. Dex walks over, slow, cautious and settles into the bed. It's warmer than his, softer. It smells like the laundry detergent his mom used to use and it makes his stomach spin. "What's going on honey?"

"I'm..." He can't do this. He doesn't know why he was stupid enough to think he could, or that he should even but-

"Is this about the whole prom kegster?" Bitty asks, raising one eyebrow curiously, "You seemed kind of off at dinner yesterday when the boys were yammering on. You know you don't really _have_ to bring a date, Ransom was just joking. I think."

"Oh yeah I know that, it's not-" He keeps his gaze solid on the Beyoncé poster on the wall, buries his teeth in his bottom lip and says, "It's just, when the guys were talking about their prom nights, you know..."

"Oh yeah," Bitty nods solemnly, "I really didn't need to know how Holster ruined that poor girl's dress," he crinkles his nose.

"No, it's..." He hates himself, for a moment. He hates himself lots of moments, but then, right then, he hates himself just like he did when he climbed up to the high dive at summer camp only to take the ladder back down six minutes later. He breathes. "I've never... You know... Before. And it feels kind of-"

"Oh?" Bitty looks at him, sees his face turn a deeper shade of red and watches the pieces fall into place for him. "Oh. Oh honey," he's looking at him like Dex always expects people to, eyes wide and frowning.

"It's fine," he mumbles.

"It is, Dex. I mean," Bitty chuckles, "I was a virgin til this year."

Dex raises his eyes back to Bitty, "Really?"

"Cross my heart."

Bitty draws an X over his chest with his pointer finger.

"I just..." He swallows. The way Bitty's looking at him reminds him of his own face, when Lardo dragged them all to a museum in the city. He had looked at every painting like he was waiting for anything to leap out at him, move him, do whatever it was art was supposed to do to you. He had had better luck on the t ride home, studying the curve of Nursey's mouth when he laughed. 

"Everyone from my town, you know. They're... conservative?" Bitty continues to look at him, expectantly. "I'm... I don't..." He closes his eyes. "I'm gay."

In the time it takes Dex to exhale after the words, Bitty’s pulled him close to his chest. "I can't be," Dex says softly against Bitty’s arms, "With my family..." He swallows the tears from his voice and finishes, "I can't."

"Dex."

Dex's head is in Bitty's lap now. He's carding his hands through Dex's hair and pretending he can't see his tears beginning to fall, which he appreciates.

"Dex. Did any of the boys tell you why they're throwing this whole prom thing?" When he doesn't respond, Bitty continues, "Prom came up. I don't know how, lord knows conversations with those boys always start north and end up south somehow. Anyways, prom came up and I said I always wanted to go but didn't and they asked why and I...told them. I didn't go because I was afraid, you know. I wasn't out but basically everyone knew, I mean look at me, lord. I don't know what I thought they would do, beat me up or make fun of me or something... or elect me prom queen," he laughs softly, as if any of this is funny. "My point is, the second I told them that, they rented tuxes and bought streamers and printed invitations. Those boys..." Dex can hear the smile in his voice, "I understand, Dex. I'm not sure what my family in Georgia will be to me when I tell them but this family..."

"Has our backs?" 

"Exactly. I mean, this is Samwell, Dex. If you want to kiss boys, you should kiss boys! Ransom and Holster could find you one in a heartbeat. Or two, how ever many you want really." 

Dex sits up and wipes his eyes before he looks at Bitty and thinks that there's really only one boy at Samwell he wants to kiss, says instead, "I haven't even done that. Kissed anybody."

Bitty's eyes go wide and he blurts out, "I have a boyfriend."

"What?" 

"I just mean... I can't-"

"Oh! Oh god no," Dex laughs, "I mean, you're like my dad, Bitty... or my mom actually."

"Shitty would have your head for that joke," Bitty clucks. "Sorry, I know you're not, I think I just... I wanted to tell you. I mean, I wanted to tell somebody, I'm kind of losing my mind. We're long distance and he's closeted and it's fine, lord knows I get it, but sometimes a boy just wants to gush about his boyfriend's smile you know? And I mean I could talk about it with Lardo probably, she'd never tell, obviously, but she's just so hung up on Shitty..." 

"Yeah. I mean, I could imagine."

"Dex you should know that... I'm happy. I'm really really happy and there were so many nights in Madison where I felt like I could never have this but I do. I bake him pies and he helps me study and we talk about nothing and everything and the way he kisses lord," Bitty turns pink at his own words, "I don't think my heart can handle it. But really Dex, you'll find someone. You're a catch you know."

Dex laughs, “I know, I guess, I mean… you’re right, it’s Samwell. I just don’t want just… anyone?” He rubs the back of his neck and prays Bitty doesn’t bring up Nursey, doesn’t ask him directly, because he’s never said any of _that_ out loud, it’s easier to just keep it in the back of his mind. It’s less real that way. 

“I see,” Bitty nods, and maybe Dex is overanalyzing it but he thinks he knows and is just too polite to say anything. “You know there was um, awhile, where I thought my boyfriend was straight and you know, this guy you like could be straight and if he is then it’s not meant to be I guess but… Lord, I’m rambling. What I’m trying to say is that things are going to work out for you Dex. I know they will.” 

"Thanks mom."

Bitty rolls his eyes, "Go on, up, we have to make pancakes."

"We?"

"You interrupted my conversation with my boyfriend," he grins, "you owe me."

*

That morning, Bitty draws a whipped cream smiley face on Dex's pancake. Dex smiles up at him with a matching expression but grows stiff when there's a clatter in the doorway. Bitty turns to his gaze to see Nursey, sliding in on roller blades, an old hockey stick in hand. "Oh no, no, no hockey in my kitchen, I told y'all!" Bitty shrieks, "Take it onto the street, I don't care if the lax boys run you away with their lawn mower again."

"Dude it's chill," Nursey nods, "I was just looking for Dex."

"Oh," Bitty looks back and forth between the two boys. Dex looks like he has a piece of pancake lodged in his throat. "Well, you can do that without skates on!"

Nursey shrugs but obediently skates a few more feet and leans against the table while he unlaces his skates. A moment later, he predictably slips and falls into the chair beside Dex with a shout. Dex laughs like he doesn't often but stops when Nursey's head falls into his lap. "Dude, where were you this morning?"

Dex shrugs and pushes Nursey off hastily. Bitty flips a chocolate chip pancake and doesn't miss how Nursey looks almost reluctant to move.

"Bitty Bitty Bitty!" He looks up, spatula in hand, to see Ransom and Holster stumbling into the room, pulling off their skates as they do. They're wise enough to know by now that skates in The Haus means no pancakes. "Eric Richard Bittle!" 

"Oh lord, what?" They exchange wicked grins.

"You tell him!" Ransom exclaims.

"No you!"

"Alright. Drumroll please..." Holster slams his hands against the doorway. Nursey grabs Dex's fork and bangs it against the table. Bitty flips a pancake onto a plate and puts it straight into Chowder's hands as he walks hazily into the room. "We found you the perfect prom date!"

"Oh no," Against his better judgement, he casts a glance to Dex who's stopped fighting Nursey for his fork and is giving Bitty a sympathetic frown.

"Oh yes!" Holster grins, "Swim team."

"Killer body."

"Killer!"

"Psych major."

"Adolescent psychology!" 

"And get this..."

"...he works in the kitchen! The dude makes that bomb ass carrot cake they have every other Friday-"

Bitty shakes his head and turns back to his pancake batter so they won't see his face. "It's not as good as mine.”

"Well... you can teach him how to bake! You know like some _Ghost_ ass shit! With the pottery! Give him a whisk, wrap your arms around him, et cetera." 

Bitty cringes. He can hear the eyebrow waggle in Holster's voice.

"Look, I really appreciate it but... Um..."

"Wait you guys are joking right?" They all turn to Dex simultaneously, Bitty included. He throws Bitty a leveled stare, reminding him of Chowder's face when he gets determined as hell during games and fights off pucks like they're bullets. "He already has a date."

"What?" Ransom and Holster gasp. 

"Yeah," Dex says cooly. Bitty can feel the color drain from his face, because really what the hell- "Don't get shy. He wouldn't shut up about his smile this morning."

"Since when do you have boy talk with Bits dude?" Nursey's looking at Dex like his life depends on it. It'd be almost endearing if he didn't look so confused and oddly, kind of hurt. "I thought I was your best friend!"

Dex doesn't say anything in response, just moves the syrup around his plate until one crumb is drowning in it. Nursey's eyes don't drop from Dex's face but the conversation is brushed into the background as Ransom and Holster rush to Bitty, practically begging for deets. He tells them in a rush of lies that he met him at a culinary class in the city, that they may or may not be going steady, that yes, he does understand that official promposals were "very strongly encouraged" on the invitation but Sheldon (the name Bitty conjures up on a whim, after his first crush) didn't receive an invitation. 

Bitty grabs Dex by the elbow when the boys are finally satisfied with his answers and begin to move to the living room for a Mario Kart tournament. "Why did you do that?" He whispers, halfway between upset and touched.

"I mean, they're not gonna lay off and you know, you can't cheat on your boyfriend for their sanity," he shoves his hands in his pockets, "Just tell them he couldn't make it day of. Baking emergency. I do it all the time, you know for parties and screw and stuff."

"Oh honey-"

"You should have your boyfriend send you flowers or something. They'll want to see you get the prom proposal you deserve. Or whatever." 

*

The boyfriend does send flowers. Dex thinks Bitty must have told him the whole story, about his hell of a home town and his weird friends' idea of a do over. First, flowers come to Faber. Dex had meant one bouquet to The Haus when he had suggested it but this is practically a garden. They're all peonies and pansies, shades of purple and pink, with a typed note that simply reads “P.” Coach Hall rolls his eyes and tells the team not to let girls mess up their game. Dex can feel the moment they all wait for Shitty to step in with a lecture on heteronormativity that never comes. They all lace up their skates and chirp the hell out of Bitty instead. 

When they get back to The Haus after practice, there's a cardboard box with an R on it. It's filled with rolling pins and roses and ring pops and a bright red teddy bear that matches Bitty's face when he pulls it out of the box. "Oh lord," he mutters to himself. 

"Bro!" Holster shouts, grabbing the bag of ring pops from Bitty's hand and passing them out, "This dude is crazy!"

"He sure is something." 

Lardo slides a watermelon ring pop onto her finger and takes one thoughtful lick. "You know Bits, these," she gives her finger a wave, "have quite the implication."

Dex doesn't know how but Bitty gets redder. He thinks he's finally reached his blush limit until Holster pipes up, "Dude what if the O is for orgasm?" 

The O ends up being the simplest gift so far. It's a pair of pale blue oven mitts, frayed on their edges. Holster frowns at them and Ransom frowns at the note. "It says they used to be his mom's but she thought you'd 'get better use out of them?' Bro, how long did you say you've known this guy for?"

Bitty shrugs off the question, setting the oven mitts on the counter and starting on a pie in order to christen them. Everyone settles into the kitchen, surrounded by as many peonies and pansies as they could carry back when there's a clatter from outside. "Dude, did you hear that?" Ransom's eyes go wide, "it's the ghosts!" 

"What ghosts?"

"There are no ghosts Tango, don’t listen to him!"

"Oh shit!" Nursey looks up from the notebook he's been scrawling lazy, unreadable notes into. Sometimes, Dex wishes Nursey’s handwriting was more legible so he could read his poetry without him knowing. He knows that's wrong but he also knows that there's so much he's too afraid to ask that he wants to hear. "What if it's the dude? The Sheldon dude!"

"What?"

"These gifts are getting wild like what if he's gotta give the M one in person? I mean, we were wrong about the orgasm but like what sex thing starts with M you know?"

"Making love?" Chowder offers at the same time that Ransom and Holster scream "MURDER!" 

"Oh my god," Bitty groans into his oven mitts, "I swear on my great grandmama's grave-" 

They all fall silent when the door creaks open. "How'd he get in?" Chowder squeaks, jumping in his seat.

"Bits did you give him a key?" 

Lardo rolls her eyes. "You dumbasses never lock the door, he wouldn't need a key!"

"Why are we even assuming it's him?" Dex asks, "I mean... maybe it's Farmer! Why does it have to be Bitty's boyfriend?"

"Wait boyfriend? I thought he was just-" they fall silent again when a heavy set of footsteps grow closer to the kitchen. "AAAAAAAAH" Ransom let's out a battle cry and he and Holster simultaneously lunge for Bitty, "We'll protect you! GET AWAY FROM HIM DUDE HE'S JUST A TINY BOY WHO LIKES PIE, HE'S SO YOUNG AND INNOCENT!" 

"ADAM BIRKHOLTZ JUSTIN OLURANSI YOU PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT OR I SWEAR TO- oh my lord." The frogs look up from the table. Ransom and Holster turn around and drop Bitty in the process. Lardo's the last to turn and when she does, she has that look on her face that Dex hasn't seen since their day at the art museum. It's the face that made him want to actually get something out of art to begin with, the overflowing of something he can’t quite place.

"Shitty?"

Shitty grins. He's wearing a rumpled suit and his hair is neatly trimmed and he looks so Not Samwell that it kind of unsettles Dex but the smattering of leaves and mulch and paint in his hair balances it out. When he opens his mouth he simply says, "Larissa Fucking Duan."

"Please," she grins, "that's my mother."

"My apologies," Shitty holds his hands up and everyone stares at him, waiting for his next move. Dex casts a glance to Nursey who glances back and shrugs. Dex has always found that shrug simultaneously endearing and infuriating. "I'm going to hug the shit out of all of you, including you fuckers," He nods at the new frogs who are staring at Shitty a little starried eyes, "but first, I need you to follow me outside. Actually," He thinks for a moment, "Second, I need you to follow me outside. First, I need you to know that the whole concept of prom is fucked and endorses a shitton of antiquated gender roles and I don't support it despite... well," He gestures to the door. "Ms. Duan?"

"That's my aunt," She mutters but she's looking up at him fondly as she takes off in front of him, throwing the front door open nonchalantly. Shitty walks out after her and the moment he's out the door, everyone scrambles up and follows them. They find Lardo staring up at a smattering of white dots on the roof. 

"Uhh..." Chowder squints, "um, I'm really glad you're here and everything Shitty but what is that exactly?" 

"It says prom!" Shitty grins, gesturing up dramatically, "I spelled it out with constellations though, see? Lards and I used to always stargaze when we were stoned." 

"How long have you been working on this?" Bitty asks in awe, like this is the most wonderful thing he's ever seen, as if his boyfriend hadn't literally filled an ice rink with flowers for him that same morning. Dex thinks maybe it makes him happier to see it happen to someone else, especially Lardo. 

"Well, honestly, these guys did a lot," he points at the tadpoles, "That's why I gotta hug em! I mean I'd probably hug them anyways but I think they really deserve a hug. I don't think they get that you're not supposed to work for alums for dibs-" 

He's interrupted by Lardo leaping into his arms and landing with a thunk, "Shitty Knight," she says into his shoulder, "You're the dumbest man I've ever met." 

Shitty grins, "Excuse you, I am a Harvard educated law student-" 

She somehow manages to punch him and hug him simultaneously. 

*

The M doesn't come until the next day. Bitty spends all morning preparing a feast because they have a guest, thank you very much. Said guest may not have come out of Lardo's room in awhile and he may have lived in said room just a few months ago but he was still a guest and lord help him if anyone in his family found out he didn't give hosting him all he had. 

Chowder doesn't run in with the letter until later, when everyone is crowded at the table, fighting over the last piece of bacon. "BITTY!" He shouts, "It's here! The last present! Oh gosh, what do you think it is? It's the last one, it has to be good, so good!" 

Bitty grins and braces himself. He had asked Jack yesterday if he made the last present any more elaborate but he had just replied with one of those old man smiley faces that has a hyphen for a nose. Shitty looks up from his plate and Lardo seizes the opportunity to snatch up the bacon and shove the whole piece into her mouth, "HA!" She shouts around it. "What kind of athletes are you?" 

"In my defense, I never had to play against anyone as fucking cutthroat as you," Shitty says indignantly before bringing his full attention to Bitty and Chowder, bacon forgotten. "What's this whole thing?" 

"It's nothing!" 

"It's Bitty's promposal!" Chowder grins, "His boyfriend is getting him a present for every letter of prom, he got rolling pins and oven mitts and candy and a teddy bear- oh! And a ton of flowers," he gestures to the purple and pink bouquets that adorn random empty spaces in The Haus, "It's so romantic! I mean, I just asked Caitlin with roses and cookies and I like her a lot. This guy must like Bitty like a lot a lot!"

Shitty's grinning almost as big as he had last night but lord if the devil isn't dancing in his eyes now. Bitty regrets the day he and Jack decided telling Shitty would be a good idea. He might even regret the day he kissed Jack Zimmermann in his graduation gowns because this gift is the size of an envelope which probably means it’s a trip to Paris or something he really can’t accept- but he doesn't because fuck is he perfect even if he is oblivious as all hell. Bitty bites his lip but quickly releases it, staring Shitty down instead. "Man," Shitty grins, "He sounds like quite a guy. Is he good in bed too Bits?" 

"Shitty Knight!" Bitty gasps, hand on his heart, "Don't you have some sort of qualm about asking a boy about his sex life when he isn't comfortable answering or... something." 

"Just trying to start a dialogue, eliminate the stigma. You should ask Jack about it. He's really an expert." 

"Jack Zimmermann?" Tango pops his head up from his scrambled eggs with his mouth still full, "What's he an expert on?" 

"Sex, if I'm following this conversation accurately," Lardo replies, stabbing a sausage from Shitty's plate. 

"You're not! Let's open it, we should open it eh?"

“Eh?” Shitty’s grin gets somehow bigger.

Chowder nods excitedly, "This is so exciting! Gosh, I wonder what it is." 

"I'm still worried it's murder and I want that on the record," Ransom says, "but if it's not murder it's gotta be like... a check for three million dollars," he turns to Shitty, "The guy's got hella bank." 

"Oh does he now?" 

"He... invests well," Bitty mutters, opening the envelop in one solid rip. 

"What's the note say, what's it say?" Chowder asks, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. 

"'Kind of a stretch but the m stands for music I guess. Ha ha.'" Bitty reads aloud. 

"Wow," Shitty says, "He sounds like a fucking loser." 

"What is it, what is it?!" 

It takes Bitty a full minute to process what he's holding and when he does, his fingers start to shake, "Oh my god." 

"What? What is it? Is it a mixed CD?!"

"Oh. My. GOD!" Bitty shrieks and then, against his better judgement, throws the envelope to the ground and runs upstairs, pulling out his phone as he goes but not dialing the number until he’s safely in his room, "JACK LAURENT ZIMMERMANN."

"Eric? Is everything okay?" A voice deeper than his boyfriend's says on the other end. Lord, he thinks, when he realizes whose voice it is. What the actual hell is his life? 

"Mr. Zimmermann," he falls backwards into his bed, "Hi, hey, hello, sir. Uh fine, totally fine." 

"Hi," Bob laughs, "Are you sure you're okay? Tell me what my son did wrong, I'll set him straight." 

"What? No nothing he's fine, he's perfect, did he um... happen to mention a present? For me?" 

"PAPA!" He hears Jack shout in the background, followed by some brief québécois mumbling and then, "Bitty, Bits, hey." 

"...hi Jack."

"Sorry, I was in the gym. What's going on? My dad said you were-"

"Jack Laurent Zimmermann," he says sternly because he didn't get the satisfaction of yelling at him the first time, "I need you to tell me right now, right this second, if this is a joke because if it is we are never and I mean EVER talking about this again." 

"I- what? What did I do?" Bitty can hear Bob laughter in the background, followed by the faint sound of what’s probably an arm getting slapped.

"Jack. The... the M."

"Oh! Yeah uh you got that eh?" 

"Jack I asked a question first." 

"Right um, no? I mean, you told me a week in that I’m not allowed to joke about Beyoncé." 

Bob laughs louder in the background and he can hear another voice laughing too, a woman's, presumably Alicia's. Bitty takes a long moment to remind himself that this isn't a weird fantasy he's having in his Madison bedroom, that this is all too unbelievable for him to even be able to dream up. An international supermodel is laughing at him. A Stanley cup winner is laughing at him. He's holding two front row tickets to a Beyoncé concert that a gorgeous, nice, funny, rich, famous, incredibly stupid boy got for him. He places his head in his hands. When he was sixteen and asked God for a cute boyfriend, this is not at all what he was picturing. He feels suddenly compelled to go to church on Sunday. 

"Am I on speaker phone?" Bitty asks lowly. 

"Um... No?" 

"Can your parents hear me?"

"No?"

"Jack. I know this whole promposal thing probably isn't leading to you actually coming to this damn prom and it's just so you can do this crazy, unreal gesture because you're crazy and unreal-" 

"Bits I'm sorry-" 

"No, listen to me. I know you can't come to this stupid kegster-" 

"It's not stupid-"

"But you better come down as soon as you get a day off because the things I want to do to you right now would make my moomaw have a heart attack."

"Well... Don't bring your grandmother into this." 

"Jack, you know I'm being serious don't you?" 

“As serious as a heart attack?”

“Jack,” he repeats, hoping his tone of voice is enough. 

"Oh. Uh. I can skype tonight." 

"Good." 

He hangs up after Bob and Alicia shout out goodbyes and then he collapses onto his bed, tries not to think about the last time Jack was here with him. He tries not to think about him at all, his eyes, his hands, his lips, oh god. Bitty screams quietly into his pillow.

He flops back over a moment later to see Shitty, standing in the doorway, smiling, "You doin’ okay Bits?" 

"Ugh," he throws an arm over his forehead dramatically until Shitty closes his bedroom door, "He's not real is he? None of this is real, is it? I got caught in a twister trying to save my dog didn't I?" 

Shitty laughs and lays down beside him, grinning, "You know he says the same thing about you right?" 

"Oh god," Bitty groans, "I can't do this. Shitty. Shitty." 

"Yeah?" 

Bitty jumps up and grabs an ESPN issue, flops back down on the bed, and turns to the page he has marked. There's a picture of Jack's face, all sharp cheekbones and a chiseled jawline and eyes that most of North America has only drowned in through laptops and TV screens. He grabs Shitty's wrist with one hand and points at the picture frantically with other. "Shitty," he whispers, eyes wide, "I've sucked that guy's dick. Like a lot of times." 

Shitty falls off the bed laughing. 

*

Prom ends up being like any other kegster but with powder blue tuxes and a lot of balloons. "It's not prom if it's not tacky!" Ransom had said pointedly before throwing a handful of confetti on the living room carpet. Nursey mentioned then that his prom had been on a cruise and the duck tasted dope. Dex made some snide comment about how that prom probably costed as much as his tuition and then they're at each other's throats, Nursey with his fists clenched and Dex with his face red. It's easier this way, he reminds himself. This is so much simpler. He watches Nursey's Adam's apple bob up and down. It's easier.

"Hey!" Shitty yells, grabbing each of them by the collars of their suits. "This is supposed to be something fucking special for Bitty, you two need to stop this bullshit," He nods at something over his shoulder Dex can't see and suddenly, Holster's arms are around him and he's being hoisted upward, carried up the stairs fireman's style. He protests weakly but finds himself thrown onto a Sharks comforter anyways.

“You two aren’t coming out until you sort your shit out, okay? Sorry we have to pull some sitcom level shit on you but-” Holster closes the door and there are rustling noises on the other end.

“Are they, like, locking us in with a bookshelf or some shit?” Nursey asks, sitting down on the bed next to Dex. Dex moves three inches away and one inch closer. He doesn’t respond. “You gonna talk to me?” He doesn’t respond. “Dude, I don’t know about you but I need to get out of this fucking San Jose shrine and get schwasted.”

“Sucks for you,” Dex shrugs. It’s easier, it’s easier, it’s easier.

“Dude, what the hell is your problem?”

He shrugs again and thinks he’ll say nothing or everything but when he opens his mouth, the words that come out are different than he intended. “Why didn’t you ask anybody to prom?”

“Dude.”

“I’m talking to you, aren’t I?”

“Not really what we’re supposed to be talking about but alright, it’s chill,” Nursey pulls a sharks pillow behind his head and stares up at the ceiling, “I was going to. I mean, I know I talked up a whole thing about my prom and it really was dope but my date was kinda shitty. She was like hella racist you know? Whatever, it doesn’t matter, the point is that I asked someone before racist girl and she said no which like, you know, Shitty’s given me hella lectures on the friend zone since and it’s all good but it still hurt.”

“Oh.”

“I mean, I guess we’re all taking this fucking prom thing a little too seriously,” he forces out a laugh, “But I, uh, was gonna ask someone. I prepared this like cheesy ass promposal and everything but I chickened out at the last second,” he scratches at his chin and pointedly avoids looking Dex in the eyes, “You know like... I was just scared they’d say no.”

Dex tries not to let his heart pound at his use of “they” but it’s out of his control. “How were you uh going to ask them?”

Nursey turns to him and looks him in the eye and Dex tells himself to break eye contact, it’s easier, it’s easier, it’s easier. He doesn’t. “I wrote him a poem,” He watches Dex’s face and he tries to keep his expression empty but he’s pretty sure he’s failing when Nursey asks, in a voice that’s somehow below a whisper, “Why do you always fight me Dex?” 

“I don’t want to,” Dex says, “It’s just easier, that’s all.”

“Easier than what?” 

Dex shrugs again. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see Nursey staring at him. It’s a face he’s seen before, when Lardo talks about Shitty and Bitty talks about his boyfriend, but it’s never been directed at him before, at least not anytime he’s noticed. It scares the shit out of him. “Why are you looking at me like that?” he mumbles, because really he can’t handle this, any of this. He wonders if Chowder’s window is unlocked.

“Like what?”

“Like,” he gestures vaguely, “I don’t know. You’re the writer.”

“What do you want me to do about it? Write you a bedtime story?”

“Funny.”

“Once upon a time there was a boy,” Nursey says softly, “who was terrified of rejection so he wrote poems about his best friend and hid them under his bed.”

Dex’s breath is caught in his throat. He can hear the prom raging on below him and he can feel this storm in his stomach growing bigger and bigger and bigger and he can see that Nursey looks just about ready to flee through the window too. “What… did he write about?” He asks, because he has to be misunderstanding this, because things don’t work out for William Poindexter, they just don’t.

“His freckles,” Nursey says, “They’re like a fucking Pollock. He went to this art museum with him one time and saw him standing next to one and it was like… almost uncanny but the boy, his uh, crush. He was a lot redder than the painting you know, like a… pomegrana-”

Dex has his first kiss halfway through a stupid similie about his freckles. He takes his first kiss from Derek Nursey and then he takes another and another and Nursey smiles into the kiss and Dex smiles back. Nursey tries to lean forward, move off the wall and closer to Dex, but ends up slipping because of course he does, and falls laughing into Dex’s shoulder.

“We’re a mess,” Nursey says at the same time that Dex says, “I want to read your poetry.”

Nursey grins wider, “I don’t have anything with me but uh… they probably won’t be back for awhile right?”

“I guess not, no.”

“Then maybe,” he drops a kiss to Dex’s neck and Dex tries to regain control of his breathing, he really does. “Maybe I can write you some poems now?” He raises his eyebrows suggestively and Dex lets out a low laugh, “I’m a really gifted writer, dude.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, like,” he moves his mouth up to Dex’s chin, “It’s like Hemingway level shit.”

“Oh.”

“Hey,” Nursey draws back and looks at him with heavy eyes and all Dex can think is _oh my god this is real_ over and over. “Are you doing okay? Your heart feels like it’s gonna like rip your chest open kinda.”

“No it’s okay I’m okay it’s,” Dex inhales sharply, “This is all just kind of new to me, sorry.”

“Dude,” Nursey grins, “It’s chill.” 

Dex kisses Nursey instead of punching him in the arm like he usually does when he says that stupid word. He figures it’s easier that way. 

 * 

Bitty folds his arms and narrows his eyebrows when he emerges from his bedroom to see Chowder’s door blocked off by Ransom and Holster’s dresser. “Hey Bits,” Shitty grins as he runs by, giving Bitty’s bowtie a tug, “looking sharp dude.”

“What’s going on in there?”

Shitty shrugs, “I don’t live here.”

“Shitty B Knight, you move that horrid dresser away from Ja- Chowder! Chowder’s room. Shit.”

Shitty begins to push the dresser to the side but raises an eyebrow at Bitty as he does. “Jack huh?”

“Shut up,” Bitty mutters.

“Are you okay Bits?”

“Fine,” Bitty sighs, leaning against the wall, “Fine, it’s fine ugh he’s just…” he fiddles with a hangnail on the edge of his thumb, “He’s just so perfect and so… far.”

Shitty gives the dresser one final push out of the way and drops his arm, panting, pulling Bitty into his arms. “Eric Richard Bittle,” he whispers into the top of his head, “I know it’s hard as hell but you’re a fighter okay? Don’t you forget that.”

Bitty wipes a tear away and nods furiously, looking over the crook of Shitty’s arm to the door of Chowder’s bedroom. “So what’s going on in there exactly?” he asks, “Who do I need to yell at?”

“Maybe no one,” Shitty says, “Unless they’ve murdered each other, then Ransom and Holster and me. Actually, we should probably check like… now, right now.”

“Oh lord,” Bitty jumps forward and throws open the door to the bedroom, “Y’all gotta stop hurting my frogs- oh my gosh!” He stops dead when he sees Dex and Nursey, one tangle of lips and limbs, and jumps back out, pulling the door closed with a slam. “Oh my gosh. That did not just happen!”

Shitty grins and Dex and Nursey slip out of the bedroom a moment later, hastily buttoning their shirts and straightening out their collars. “Oh my lord.”

“Bits, dude, chill.”

“If it helps,” Shitty says, “I’m totally chill.”

“Oh lord, I’m happy for y’all but I feel like I just saw my sons… I mean in a non-incestual way of course you’re not really related I mean...” his face goes pale, “I’m going to go make pie!”

“Bitty no, I- honestly, it’s fine,” Dex says and the three boys stare at him. “It doesn’t matter, seriously. This is supposed to be your night and all, go to your prom, don’t worry about what you… uh… saw.”

“He’s just saying that so he can get back in there and finish,” Shitty mutters.

“Can you blame him?” Nursey grins.

“You’re growing up so fast man!”

Dex intercepts their fist bump with a smack of his own hand. 

“Really dude, Dex is right.” 

“Is that gonna be a thing you’re doing regularly now, agreeing with him? That’s fucking wild man, boning solves everything. I mean obviously not everything-”

“Sheldon gave you like all that shit for the promposal, don’t like miss out on it because of us,” Nursey continues, shrugging, “That’s prom, right? You walk in on your friends boning, bone someone yourself, eat some chips.” 

“Sheldon… right.”

“Bitty-” Dex frowns.

“It’s fine,” he says, spinning on his heels, “Don’t do anything in my room!” he calls out, charging downstairs and running head on into- “Jack?” Bitty blinks once, twice, three times, just to make sure his eyes aren’t deceiving him. 

“Uh… hi,” Jack gives a small wave of his hand, barely more than a turn of his wrist. His cheeks are flushed and there’s a line of sweat beneath his hairline, a light blue tie knotted carefully around a white button up shirt. It occurs to Bitty then that he hasn’t kissed Jack in four and a half weeks. Then it occurs to Bitty that Jack’s lips are six inches away and he can remedy that in a matter of seconds. Then it occurs to Bitty that Jack is there, really there.

“Jack! What are you-”

“Well uh…” Jack slips his hands into his pockets and sways back and forth on his feet. “When I was looking up that whole prom question thing-”

“Promposal.”

“Right. I researched those you know, for your… thing and I realized that mine wasn’t complete.”

“Because you weren’t actually coming to the prom?”

“Well… that but also you know, there’s usually a question mark at the end. So…” he fishes one of his hands out of his pocket and produces a crumpled piece of paper with a question mark on it.

“You’re unreal,” Bitty whispers, as Jack presses it into his hand. He stares at the paper for one long moment and then moves his eyes up to Jack, the droop of his eyes, the curve of his cheekbones. “You’re unreal and you’re here.”

“I’m here,” Jack smiles shyly, “George uh let me out of this charity banquet thing so I’ve got all night. You know, you told me to get down here quick...”

“All night eh?”

Jack fakes a gasp, “Is that an eh I just heard? Shitty told me about the last one but I almost didn’t believe him. Y’all are getting a little too Canadian.”

“You used that wrong and you know it!”

Jack laughs and Bitty can feel it ringing in his ears, beating with his pulse. It sounds different in person than it does over the phone, in a way that Bitty can’t quite put a finger on. Maybe it’s louder, less muffled. Maybe it’s the fact that when he laughs when they’re together he can reach out and trace a line from his left eyebrow to his chin and then do the same with the right. 

“Hey,” Bitty whispers. 

“Hi,” Jack whispers back.

“So, what’s the present for this one?”

“Hmm?”

“Well the other letters came with presents.”

“Oh I… uh.”

“I'm kidding Jack, I think it’s my turn to give you one anyways,” He presses a finger to the inside of Jack’s wrist, “Upstairs. You better come quick, before anyone notices you and wants a piece of you. Try to keep up.”

“You may have been faster than me on the ice in college but I’m a professional athlete now Bittle. I think I can beat you in a race upstairs.”

“Wanna bet?”

“Definitely. I heard you have Beyoncé tickets up for grabs.”

“Don’t even joke about that Mr. Zimmermann!”

* 

Dex and Nursey make it to the prom eventually. “In our defense,” Nursey leans against the wall, arms crossed and button down shirt wrinkled. “There was like a solid thirty minutes where we just couldn’t find Dex’s jacket.”

“Thirty?” Shitty picks up a paper plate covered in pie crumbs and tosses it into the trash. It’s Bitty’s prom, even though he missed most of it for whatever reason (the boys assume he's off with Sheldon, Dex assumes he's off brooding), which means they need to clean The Haus and they’ve managed to stay sober enough to do so. 

“Yeah well I mean like, we got distracted… a little,” Nursey shrugs and Lardo lets out a snort, “But we really couldn’t find it! It was under the shark!”

“Shark?” Chowder’s head pops up from where he’s picking glass shards out of the carpet, “Why was there a… oh no! No! Please tell me-”

“Bro,” Ransom lays on the carpet with Holster, beer in hand, “That’s not cool.”

“So not cool!” Holster adds with a shout. 

“Well maybe someone shouldn’t have locked us in here,” Dex grumbles, “Or maybe someone could have given one of us dibs-”

“Boo!” Ransom chugs the last sip of beer and flings the can at Dex, missing by a good ten feet. “You want our attic to bang in next year you better start kissing our damn feet.”

Dex blushes, scrubbing harder at an indescript stain on the wall. He feels out of his element, kissing a boy and having all his friends know because really, there was no way to hide it from them. It’s simultaneously liberating and terrifying and does almost as much to his heart as Nursey- Derek, he thinks maybe they should be on a first name basis after tonight- did a half hour earlier. 

“Banging in an attic would be dope,” Nursey grins, “You’d be like… on top of the world, you know.”

“I’m too drunk to think of a good top and bottom joke this isn’t fair!” Ransom whines into Holster’s shoulder. 

“Good, that’s some gross heteronormative bullshit,” Shitty says, picking up his empty beer can and launching it back at him.

“Dude but like… I can’t believe you actually lost your virginity tonight. That means our prom was fucking legit!”

“I mean I didn’t-” Dex drops his sponge to the carpet. “Wait, you guys knew?”

“Knew what?” Holster sits up with a groan, “About the Nursey and Dex sexual tension? Why else would we have locked you in Chowder’s room?”

“You knew they were going to do that in my bed?!” Chowder squeaks, eyes wide, “C’mon guys!”

“No, I meant… you knew… you know…” he lifts his sponge again, “Never mind, forget it.”

“Oh wait you mean like you being a virgin?” Ransom sits up beside Holster, “Dude yeah I mean like… you never participated when we told our sexcapades. It’s cool bro, everyone goes at their own pace and all that Shitty… shit.”

“Oh,” Dex feels like his heart has beat too fast too many times tonight. He also feels like he finally gets what Bitty meant, about them having his back and all.

“Anyways,” Holster grins, “Now you have loads of deets to give! Deets, deets, deets, deets-”

“Shut up and clean this damn haus so we can go to sleep,” Lardo shouts from the doorway of the kitchen, rubber glove on one hand and bag of trash in the other.

They stay like that for awhile, Dex, Nursey, Ransom, Holster, Shitty, Lardo, a handful of the frogs, and a bucket of cleaning supplies. Nursey throws a pair of boxer briefs he finds on the floor at Dex and Dex throws it back at him and Nursey knocks the backs of their hands together. It beats his prom night, the one he faked food poisoning the night of to get out of a date with a girl from his Bio class, by a longshot.

They’ve been quietly scrubbing and organizing for almost forty five minutes and Dex is just about ready to give in and take Nursey up on his offer to carry him piggyback style to his dorm when there’s rustling upstairs. 

“Ah shit,” Shitty mutters, “I thought Lardo and I scared off all the assholes fucking upstairs.”

“Clearly you didn’t,” Ransom mutters, his voice drowsy from sleep. The frogs have already returned to their dorms but cleaned Ransom and Holster’s share in a futile attempt at getting dibs. “The lanky one and the ginger are still- Jack?”

Their heads all swivel in one solid motion to where Bitty is stumbling down the stairs, a shirtless Jack Zimmermann in tow. Shitty’s the first one to unfreeze, breaking the silence by barrelling across the room, scooping Jack up into his arms. “JACK FUCKING ZIMMERMANN!” He spins Jack into a circle which Dex thinks he only gets away with because Jack’s too shell shocked by the moment to protest. “Jack Zimmermann at a fucking prom, I never thought I’d live to see the day.”

“Uh, hey guys,” Jack gives an awkward wave, folding his arms across his chest, which is very red and very bare. Dex trails his eyes to Bitty then, wearing an oversized Falcs shirt that barely covers his bruised neck. He exchanges a long, raised eyebrow look with Nursey and he can’t really believe how long it took them to put the pieces together. 

“Jack! When did you get here?” Chowder grins, “I thought you couldn’t come!”

“I walked past Bitty’s room earlier, believe me, he could.”

Jack has Shitty in a headlock before any of them can blink. “I’m just-” Shitty cackles between sharp breaths, “stating-” he pries himself out of Jack’s grip (or more, Jack releases him) “the facts!” He collapses at Lardo’s feet, grinning wildly.

“Okay is anyone else confused?” Ransom asks, turning frantically between Holster and Jack, then Shitty and Lardo and Jack, then Nursey and Dex and Jack, and finally, Bitty and Jack. “Whoa! Are you- I- what? Bro, what about Sheldon?”

“Oh my lord.”

Bitty slumps on the floor where he stands, giving Jack’s wrist a solid tug. Despite his size, Jack takes all of two seconds to collapse beside him. Dex catches Bitty’s eye as he keeps his hand wrapped around Jack’s pulse point and Bitty ducks his head, flashes a smile.

“Look,” Bitty lifts his hand from Jack and claps his hands together, like he always does when he means business. “This is serious y’all. If anybody found out, I mean if anybody at all...”

“Bitty,” Dex speaks up for some reason, maybe because nobody else has yet. He’s not usually one for supportive speeches, that’s Shitty’s job and Ransom’s and Holster’s and Bitty’s and basically everyone’s but his. But he speaks up then, because Nursey’s looking at him with soft eyes and Bitty’s looking at him with utter panic and he can’t remember the last time he felt out of place here. “We would never do that to you, either of you.”

“I know you wouldn’t,” Bitty says softly, “but mistakes happen and you shouldn’t have the responsibility of-”

“Of having your back?” Dex smiles, “Bitty… it’s chill.” 

“Look at that,” Ransom cracks as the tension breaks, “One night and you can already see the Nursey in him.”

Holster opens his mouth and Lardo immediately slaps a hand over it, eyes narrowed, “There’s serious shit happening, can you not make a sex joke for like five seconds?”

“Statistically?” Ransom raises his pointer finger and Lardo uses her other hand to slap his wrist down.

“He’s right,” Chowder pipes up, “I- not the sex joke thing, I just meant, Dex is right we would never…”

“We wouldn’t,” Lardo brings her hands back to her lap, “We’re not going to do anything that could hurt you,” She spends a short moment communicating with Shitty with her eyes, in a way that Dex spent his freshman year wondering if he could ever do with someone. She turns to Dex and he realizes then that the unsaid conversation was about him, “Any of you. Got it?”

“Yeah,” Nursey knocks his shoulder against Dex’s.

“No pain, unless it’s in the game,” Holster grins, “Of hockey.”

“Wow,” Ransom says, “That was some Nursey level shit.”

“How would you know? His poetry’s for Dex’s eyes only.”

“Alright, alright,” Shitty stands to his feet, claps his hands together, “That’s enough fucking prom drama. If I’m correct, our prom king was too busy to even get a dance with his date.”

“Prom king?” Bitty looks up from where he’s been twisting his hands around Jack’s fingers, one by one by one, “I thought we were skipping that part, because of gender roles and all.”

“Actually, that was a lie, we just knew you’d be too much of a beautiful selfless motherfucker to vote for yourself and we wanted it to be unanimous,” he nods at Lardo, who pulls out a crown from behind the couch, painted Samwell red and adorned with a drooping mess of sparkles and gems, a clear product of too many hands and too much glue. 

“Eric Richard Bittle,” Shitty takes the crown from Lardo’s hand and holds it out in front of him for the room to see, “I am pleased to announce that you have been voted, _unanimously_ , the king of the first annual -and probably last because seriously fuck this antiquated shit- Samwell Men’s Hockey team prom. You, your majesty, embody the qualities any good prom king should have. Kind, beautiful, badass as hell. Historically, kings have been gross. Infidelity, genocide, all that bullshit. But you, Eric Bittle, give royalty a new name, a new reputation, you lead us into a new era-”

“Okay seriously Shits I’m tired as hell can you please-”

“Shhh Lardo, I know you’re sad you didn’t win but let him have this,” Shitty lowers the crown onto Bitty’s bed ruffled hair and Bitty looks up at him, like he’s placing the whole world onto his head. 

“Thank you,” Bitty’s face looks a lot like it did when they got him Betsy 2.0. “Seriously, I- I just… love you all… a lot. A lot, a lot. I don’t know what else to say, really.”

“Short and sweet then, let’s skip to the dance,” Shitty grins, “Now, we elected to not choose a queen because as you said, fuck gender roles so pick whoever you want, by all means.”

Shitty puts on a slow song, something Dex assumes is by Beyoncé but would never admit to Bitty he doesn’t really know the name of. Bitty looks somehow even smaller in Jack’s arms. They’re swaying slightly to the music and Jack’s awkward as hell, but he can see it now, all that happiness that Bitty was talking about, there, between them.

It’s next to him too, in a boy who just an hour ago was wearing only half of a dark blue tux and the entirety Dex’s lips. “Hey,” Nursey whispers, pushing closer to him. Dex moves one inch away from him and three inches closer. “Wanna dance?”

Dex shakes his head. It’s too much for one night. Good, great, but overwhelming. “Can we just… sit here?”

“Yeah man,” Nursey grins, “It’s chill.”

“Are you ever going to stop saying that?” he scoffs.

“Why would I do that, you’re cute when you’re all hot and bothered.”

Dex blushes, he can feel it hot in his cheeks, and ducks his head. He stares at his own feet for a moment, knocking back and forth beside Nursey’s. When he looks back up, he sees Shitty spinning Lardo in circles, Ransom and Holster attempting the big move from Dirty Dancing, Jack and Bitty continuing to sway like the rest of them don’t exist, Chowder staring at all of them in awe, and Nursey staring at him.

This is his life, he thinks, brushing his knuckles shyly against the back of Nursey’s hand. This is what he has, a family in a hockey team at a school he almost didn’t attend because it would be easier, staying away from a life like this.

“Hey,” Nursey whispers.

“You already said that.” 

“I’m saying it again because I have something to say this time.”

“You? With something to say? I can’t believe it.”

“We can take things slow,” Nursey looks at him head on and Dex is so terrified and so far gone. “We should take things slow. I know we kinda got like… overexcited up there and all but that doesn’t mean we can’t like tug on the reigns or whatever. Do this right. Dance in your dorm room instead of out... here. And I can get the boys to shut up if you want or-”

Dex glances quickly around the room and presses his lips to Nursey’s cheek, swift and shy. “I don’t really… know how to dance.”

The way Nursey looks at him then, right then, is enough for Dex to feel like he understands it all: Bitty and Jack and Shitty and Lardo and every piece of art he’s ever laid eyes on that wasn’t Derek Nursey. Nursey moves an inch closer, two, three, whispers, “I’ll teach you.”

Dex leans his shoulder against Nursey's and watches the way Bitty and Jack are dancing, with matching light eyes and lips turned up and hands that seem made for each other’s waists. He stares for one, long, surreal moment before he turns his head, smiles, and says, “I can’t wait to learn.”

**Author's Note:**

> If any of y'all are going to prom have fun and stay safe! Ily all thanks for reading!!! Hmu at gaysun on tumblr w/ prompts and shit.


End file.
